This invention relates to a portable on-site refrigerant reclamation system which can be coupled to an operating refrigeration installation to remove undesirable contaminants.
The performance and operating life of a refrigeration system can be adversely affected by the presence of contaminants. The chief contaminants are oil, rust, moisture, acids, sludge, and metal particles.
It has been the general practice up to now to dump the entire refrigerant charge in a contaminated system and to start over again with a new charge. Not only is this practice wasteful of refrigerant, but concern has developed in recent years that certain fully halogenated refrigerants can accumulate in the atmosphere and contribute to the "greenhouse effect" as well as possibly affecting the ozone layer. Efforts are under way to reduce emissions of fully halogenated refrigerants by recycling contaminated refrigerants.
One approach involves placing the contaminated refrigerant in drums and shipping them to a centrally located processing plant where the refrigerant can be reclaimed. The advantage here is that the chemical purity of the reclaimed refrigerant can be better controlled. The disadvantage is in the high labor and shipping costs in handling the refrigerant.
Another approach involves on-site reclamation where the contaminated refrigerant is purified on the job and returned to the system.
The invention disclosed here is directed to an on-site reclamation system hermetically coupled to a refrigeration installation to reclaim the refrigerant without interfering with its normal mode of operation.